Remember November
by Princess Andromeda II
Summary: In honor of Veterans Day 2015: This is to commemorate all men and women who put their own lives at risk to protect their nation. (Thank You!) A Veterans Day one-sot with a side of Percy Jackson, this is a timeline of events related to veterans that somehow impacts Percy's life. Please read to show your support for our veterans!


**HAPPY VETERANS DAY! (Or Remembrance Day, any other countries besides the U.S.) This is a special fanfic that I decided to write in honor of Veterans Day 2015, and I really hope you like it. I would like to dedicate this to my dad, who I am so proud of, and I think is the best veteran in the world (U.S. Air Force forever!). Please enjoy!**

 **November 11, 1963**

Sally Jackson is 6 months old. She is born into a country flushed with relief from the ending of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which came to a close only a year before. Her first word that she ever speaks is "Cuba". Jim and Laura Jackson, understandably, were not overjoyed to hear this.

 **November 11, 1968**

Sally Jackson is 5 years old. Both of her parents die in a plane crash 150 miles south of Lake Ontario at 3 A.M. Little information is given out about the incident other than there were no survivors. The reality of the situation is that all the passengers on the plane- including Sally's parents- were being flown to a special award ceremony for veterans who had served time in the military during the Korean War. The plane was taken over by a Korean enemy sympathizer, and was targeted specially for its particular chosen passengers.

 **November 11, 1978**

Sally Jackson is 15 years old. At school, they are talking about the different branches of the military. Her teacher asks her to recite the different branches, but when she starts to say "Marines", she chokes up, and her teacher moves on quickly. Later, her boyfriend teases her for starting to cry in class, and she slaps him before breaking up with him and storming home to her Uncle Rich's house, where she locks herself in her room and cries some more.

 **November 11, 1993**

Percy Jackson is less than 3 months old. He is born into a country still recovering from the numerous losses it experienced during the brief, two-year Gulf War. It is nearly 9 months after the occurrence in the World Trade Center garage in which a bomb exploded, killing 6 and injuring well over a thousand people. The men convicted were suspected to be involved with the terrorist group Al Qaeda.

 **November 11, 1996**

Percy Jackson is just over 3 years old. It is less than 5 months after the disastrous incident in Saudi Arabia on June 25. A truck bomb exploded outside Khobar Towers military complex in Dhahran. 19 American servicemen are killed, and hundreds are injured. Percy still swears that one of his first memories is of seeing a map on the TV of a distant country, far far away, in which life was chaotic and cruel. But what does a 3-year old care of such problems?

 **November 11, 2001**

Percy Jackson is 8 years old. He is still traumatized from the event that happened exactly two months ago, and can remember it clear as day:He was supposed to take a math test that day, but the teacher told everyone to go home early. She sounded scared. Percy shrugged it off, and grabbed his backpack as he left. As he headed home, he could see the New York City skyline scattered along his route: the Statue of Liberty, the Twin Towers, and the Empire State Building. He looked again at the two towers, and furrowed his brow. There was something funny sticking out the side of one of them. He stopped and stared. The thing was big and white and burning. He could hear sirens wailing. Even from here, he could see objects dropping from the top of the building (it isn't until he's older that his mom tells him those were people jumping out of the windows). He watched in disbelief as another object crashed into the second tower, and he realized only then that the two things were planes. He ran home to tell his mom, but she was glued to the TV, set to the news channel, and tears were running down her cheeks as she sobbed. They watched together as everything on the TV screen fell, one after the other. The people fell, then the planes fell, and then the towers fell. And the spirits of people all over the world fell together. On that day, he learned a new word: terrorist. Today, exactly two months later, he learns another new word: veteran.

 **November 11, 2003**

Percy Jackson is still enjoying presents from his 10th birthday a few months earlier. One of his favorite gifts was a set of walkie-talkies. When his fifth-grade class went on a field trip to the Saratoga battlefield, and the guide was talking about the Revolutionary War; _before_ he fired the cannon at the school bus, Percy kept asking about wars that were going on in current times, and the guide was surprised at being asked at such a mature question. So he told him about the U.S. invading Iraq, and explained that he didn't know if it would become a war or not. Now, whenever Grover came over to hang out, the two boys would play with the walkie-talkies and pretend that they were U.S. troops penetrating enemy lines in Iraq. Percy's mom distantly watched them play the first few times, but upon hearing the plot of their game, she took away Percy's walkie-talkies and made them both promise never to play that game ever again. They didn't.

 **November 11, 2005**

Percy Jackson is 12 years old. He has just returned to school after the wildest summer of his life so far, with a whole new world of people, creatures, gods, monsters, and adventures. He doesn't know how he can survive the school year after such a thrilling time, but he's already a few months into the 7th grade, so he knows he'll be okay. Today at school, the teacher is talking about something, something about the military, but Percy is daydreaming again. He's thinking about his new friends, about Camp Half-Blood, about killing monsters and fighting gods, and about Annabeth. He's tapping his pencil distractedly on his desk. Suddenly he stops. There are only two sounds in the room: the tapping of his pencil, and the heart-wrenching sobs of a girl who sits two desks to his right. She's crying. He wonders why; he hasn't been paying attention. The teacher, who is getting slightly misty-eyed, comes over to the girl and pats her back. The girl is struggling to say something between her broken sobs, and he can only pick up random, off-hand words: "dad...deployed...8 months...bomb...letter...funeral...folded-up flag." The words don't make sense together, at least to someone out of context like Percy. He sits up in his desk and looks at the board. Two words are written on the clean white surface: Veteran's Day.

 **November 11, 2009**

Percy Jackson is 16 years old. The Second Titan War is over; it ended a few months ago. That battle is over, but the battle raging in his heart, soul, and mind is not quite finished. He saw too much, felt too much, cried too much, loved too much. So many of his friends died. _So many_. He would need at least 5 sets of hands and toes to be able to count them all off. Castor, Lee Fletcher, Daedalus, Silena, Charlie, Luke... all great heroes- even Luke- who didn't deserve to die. But those are names that he can't even remember anymore. He remembers none of the brave souls who died. His memory is gone, and so are his friends. But had he still possessed his memory, he would be weak with grief, like soldier coming back from the war with post-traumatic stress. And maybe, had Hera left his memories, that's exactly what would have happened to the hardened boy: he would have come back broken, crushed from the guilt and grief. But there was no way to find out. He did not know them anymore. He could not reflect upon their service, their lives, their faces. And perhaps that was the greatest sin: one of the best wartime-heroes, one of the few who had survived, was not given the chance to be honored, because nobody could find him, and he could not be proud, because he did not remember, and he could not be told of his great service, because he was alone. So, is ignorance truly bliss? Maybe for some. But not old veterans in the hospital who look down at their body and see that they are missing a leg, but that are so old and alone and forgetful that they can not remember how they lost that leg, and no loved ones come to visit anymore to tell them what happened, and all of their comrades died in battle. But maybe for Percy Jackson, a veteran who still has so much potential and love to give. Only time will tell. But for now, at least, the young veteran would not remember this November.

 **I'm sorry if that was too solemn or depressing (or if it just sucked), but I feel that our veterans need to be honored. I personally am very proud of all the men and women who offer their lives up for us, and who put their own lives in danger every day to help protect us. Today, please try to tell any veteran that you see "Thank you. I appreciate your service." It will mean more to them than you know. Please review, and let me know if you have anyone close to you who is a retired veteran, has passed on due to service, or is currently in the armed forces, and I would love to know! Thank you for reading, and thank you to all of our veterans!**

 **Have a WONDERFUL Veterans Day!**

 **Love,**

 **~Princess Andromeda II**


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